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855 Sixth Ave. (W. 30 St.) - commercial/residential mixed-use

NEW YORK CITY-Tessler Developments and the Chetrit Group have purchased 855 Sixth Ave. with the help of $105.3-million loan from Fremont Investment & Loan. The property located on Sixth Avenue between 30th and 31st streets contains a couple of buildings that will be razed to make way for a 37-story mixed-use project.

Craig Lockard, VP and senior loan originator for Fremont tells GlobeSt.com that the loan covered a majority of the acquisition price for the property, but he could not reveal what percent or the total cost.

Plans for the property are currently being drawn up, with an architect now working on the drawings. Lockard tells GlobeSt.com that the new building will total 500,000 sf and will contain a base level of retail followed by 11 floors of office space and topped by 23 floors of residential units. Further details have yet to be solidified.

Lockard says construction should start by the end of this year, with the demolition of the existing buildings. As part of the deal, Lockard says Tessler and the Chetrit Group negotiated lease terminations with the existing tenants.

“The project will really invigorate the area,” Lockard says. He cites the full office market in Midtown south and the growth of residential in the area as the two key factors that will aide the success of the project. Retailers have not yet been identified but Lockard says the space is likely to be filled with a high-end tenant and not a grocer or pharmacy.

Fremont has financed six other Tessler projects including the luxury condo project at 240 Park Ave. South.

There was an article awhile back that stated the developers controlled the entire block facing 6th. If this is only going to be 37 stories, then it looks like the entire block will be coming down. If so, it's a shame, the northernmost building is in perfect condition, but at the same time, the rest of the assemblage is horrible looking.

The west blockfront on the Avenue of the Americas between 30th and 31st Street has been bought for $117,500,000 by Herald Square Development LLC, which is located at 95 Delancey Street.

According to Massey Knakal Realty Services, which assembled the site and was the broker in the transaction, the site has a six-story commercial office building at 855-7 Avenue of the Americas, three adjacent four-story commercial buildings at 859-865 Avenue of the Americas, a four-story commercial building at 867-873 Avenue of the Americas and a parking lot at 106-108 West 31st Street on the site, which measures 197 feet 6 inches by 188 feet 7 inches.

The combined buildable square footage is approximately 333,740 square feet, of which 247,000 square feet lies within a C6-4X zone and 86,740 square feet lies within a M1-6 zone. The property sold for $352.07 per buildable square foot, according to Robert Knakal, the chairman of Massey Knakal who exclusively represented the seller with partner Thomas Donovan, Chief Executive Officer John Ciraulo and broker David Kalish.

"Due to the flexible zoning, the project could potentially include retail, office, hotel and residential units," Mr. Kalish said, adding that "It was complicated and went through many iterations prior to consisting of the entire blockfront."

The property was purchased by a Manhattan investor looking to take advantage of the booming development market, according to the announcement by Massey Knakal.

Mr. Knakal told CityRealty.com that no details were available as to when the assemblage might be redeveloped and what configuration the development might take.

The site is at the northern end of the city's former "Flower District" in the 20's along the avenue that has witnessed significant redevelopment recently with high-rise apartment buildings, some of which do not occupy full blockfronts on the avenue.

There were two sellers in the assemblage: Habern Realty Company LLC of which Asher Bernstein is a manager; and the Lavin Group LLC of Manhasset, NY.

A six-story commercial building at 855 Avenue of the Americas was erected in 1949 and reclad a few years ago. It contains about 155,000-square feet of space.

The site is located in northern Chelsea and is now far from the Herald Square shopping district and the Penn Station/Madison Square Garden complex.

855 is that striped glass building at the corner and maybe the one next to it is also part of the plot but that's about it.

I'm surprised you're not jumping for joy now that 855 will gone.

Btw, this block and the one immediately to the south with the Fitzpatrick hotel will be very busy with construction the next couple of years.

And of course the REMY is on the next block after that.

I am jumping for joy that 855 will be gone, but I utterly lament the loss of the beautiful structure on the north side of the block. It will suck to lose it particularly since a Maclowe-esque POS surely will rise here.

Probably wanted that large footprint for the 11 floors of office. The office floors will still make it about as tall as the 45 story building rising just south of this site.

You know what's crazy about that?

They could have switched places with that former garage site (likely zoned for residential) because it does have a very large footprint and have that proposal for the hotel/condo here on this site (mixed use zoning) instead.

This way, they wouldn't have to tear down the whole block, since residential doesn't need a large footprint. (I got you guys confused, didn't I? )

There's a rendering at the site of a six story (or so) glass retail structure advertising 200,000 s.f. of retail space. I assume that will not occupy this site. Does anyone know if the plans have changed?